Han Mu Xia was born in the
outskirts of Tianjin to a poor peasant family. He was big and strong since
childhood, and began practicing Mi Zong Quan (Confusion Fist) since his youth.
When he was sixteen, he was recommended to become a student of Zhang Zhan Kui,
who had been in turn one of the students of Dong Hai Chuan, supposedly the
founder of Bagua Zhang (Eight Trigrams Palm). After going under the tutelage of
Zhang, Han practiced martial arts day and night, and his kung fu improved
significantly. He was soon given the nickname "Jade Face Tiger". When
Han was learning Bagua Zhang from Zhang, he also began learning Xing Yi Quan (Hsing-I
Fist) from Li Cun Yi, one of Zhang's friends. He later learned martial arts from
even more masters.

Like most Chinese martial
artists at this time, Han Mu Xia was angered by the arrival of Western fighters
who challenged the Chinese to fights and only fueled the chaos created by
foreign invasions. He defeated many Western fighters and soon made a name for
himself throughout China. Soon, Han opened up his own martial arts school in
Northern China, and gathered a large number of students. Even the eldest son of
warlord and president Yuan Shi Kai came to learn martial arts from him.

Han Mu Xia never accepted
for teaching martial arts. Some poor students even ate and slept for free in the
school. He was soon befriended by Zhang Xue Liang, son of the warlord Zhang Zuo
Lin. Han was always interested in popularizing martial arts in the Chinese
armies, a practice which was discontinued following the introduction of Western
arms. Zhang was very interested in the thought, and pulled a thousand men from
his army to undergo martial arts training with Han. Han placed great effort into
these men, and simplified many of the Xing Yi Quan weapons techniques to make
them applicable to modern warfare. To counter the bayonets used by Western
armies, he created a system of fighting involving sabers.

During World War II, Han
Mu Xia closed his martial arts school and rarely socialized with others. At the
time, there was an official of the puppet government established by the Japanese
who wanted Han to become a trainer of the police force. Han refused, but was
repeatedly threatened as a result. In the end, he broke his own wrist and was
finally able to reject the request by claiming that he was suffering from an
injury.